NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Davidson County election officials are moving three longtime voting sites because of concerns over the coronavirus and lingering damage from the March tornado.
People who normally vote at the three sites will be directed to new polling locations on Election Day.
The voting site at the Windlands Retirement Center, located at 200 East Weber Street in Madison, and at the Tennessee School for the Blind, located at 115 Stewarts Ferry Pike in Donelson, were concerned about exposing residents to COVID-19, so both locations have been moved.
The polling location at the 15th Avenue Baptist Church, located at 1203 9th Avenue North, still has tornado damage.
In all three cases election officials have found new polling locations near the ones that are being closed.
FiftyForward at Madison Station will be the new voting location for people who would normally vote at the Windlands.
FiftyForward already has a polling site at the location but the large building allows it to operate an additional precinct.
"I expect there will be lots of people coming through," said Brandy Lamb who is Director of FiftyForward Madison Station.
"We worked it out so they could have their voting precinct here," Lamb said.
The two separate voting precincts at FiftyForward Madison Station will be in two separate rooms inside the senior center, and each will have the same number of voting machines they normally have.
Davidson County's Administrator of Elections Jeff Roberts said there was also concern about bringing voters inside the Tennessee School for the Blind, which has been a longtime voting site in Donelson.
"They have residents there from across the state and some of them have multiple issues beyond their blindness," Roberts said.
That precinct will be closed permanently so voters will receive new voter registration cards directing them to vote at nearby Donelson Middle School, located at 110 Stewarts Ferry Pike.
But it's not just the COVID-19 impacting polling sites.
Voters who normally vote at 15th Avenue Baptist Church cannot go in there because of the tornado earlier this year.
"They still have damage from the tornado in March that they're not quite finished up with yet," Roberts said.
Voters who normally go to 15th Avenue Baptist Church will be directed to the North Branch Library located at 1001 Monroe Street on Election Day.
Both the church and the Windlands Retirement Center hope to have voters again at some point in the future.
So those voters will not get new voter registration cards.
Davidson County has 160 polling sites, so moving just three is not too unusual.
"Three moves for an election like this, that's not out of the ordinary," Roberts said.
But COVID-19 concerns are impacting some polling locations at retirement facilities and churches across the country, so people in other counties in Tennessee and Kentucky should make sure their normal voting location will be open Election Day.
"Voting is important, but also safety is important. So, we absolutely understand why they would want to keep their residents safe," said Brandy Lamb with FiftyForward Madison Station.
The facility is getting ready for a busy Election Day.
